Tone is like barbecue sauce in Texas. Everyone has their own opinion.
Some listeners prefer the sound coming out of the bell of Miles Davis. Others prefer the trumpet tone of Arturo Sandoval while others prefer the tone produced by Al Hurt. To each his/her own.
There is one thing that we all agree upon is that our sound or tone, is all we have to give our listeners. The listener doesn’t care what horn or mouthpiece you are playing on. Their only way to evaluate your tone is what they hear, like it or not.
So how can anyone write an article on which tone is better than the next? I don’t know but because I have never turned down a challenge, I will share some ideas I have on what makes the different types of tone most trumpet players produce and you will have to be the judge as to which one you like best.
The Bright Sound-
Bill Chase
Cat Anderson
Fat Sound-
Harry James
Dark Sound-
Chet Baker
Tone is your only real product and what equipment you are using will be a big factor in what people will hear.
Small equipment such as mouthpiece size, horn bore size as well as the players physical makeup will help determine the sound coming from your bell.
I have also noticed that racial characteristics may also affect the tone quality. When performing with a great Mexican orchestra led by my good friend Tommy Amador, I had to change my tongue position as well as my jaw position in order to match Mr. Amador’s brighter sound. When listening to Mexican trumpet players, you may also notice a much brighter, tighter sound than that produced by a German trumpet player.
Smaller, tighter bore sizes on mouthpieces tend to produce an equally brighter tone than large diameter mouthpieces. Even brighter sounding mouthpieces can be altered to sound darker by adding a product called a Tone Sleeve. In that case, you could perform on a smaller mouthpiece without sounding too bright.
Tone is important to the player as well as their listeners and for that reason, choosing the tone that you would like is very important to your success. You could be the most proficient technician on your instrument, but if your tone quality sounds like the sound coming through cheap speakers, who would want to listen to you perform?
